It is often desirable to secure a dispenser, such as a pump, a valve, or other dispensing means to a container for storing a liquid product. A typical container may be made of glass and have a neck with an opening for dispensing the product. A flange having an inwardly directed ledge is often provided to facilitate attachment of a cap or dispensing device to the container.
Various methods are known for securing a dispenser onto a flanged container. One such method is to provide the dispenser with a metal mounting ferrule. To attach the dispenser to the container, the bottom of the skirt of the mounting furrule is deformed, or crimped, beneath the container flange to retain the dispenser in place. Such a crimping operation, however, requires specialized machinery made specifically for the crimping operation. Moreover, since each dispenser must be positioned accurately, and then crimped, the process of crimping the mounting furrules is relatively time consuming. Furthermore, set-up of the crimping process requires precise adjustment of the crimping head in order to fully crimp the mounting furrule onto the container. If the flange of the container varies even slightly from the dimensions defined during set-up, the crimping process may easily fail. If the flange is too small, a tight crimp may not occur, which can result in leakage. If the flange is too large or if the height of the bottle varies from what is expected, the forces necessary for crimping may crush the flange, thereby causing the container to break. Such breaking of the container requires the assembly line to be stopped so the broken container can be removed and the assembly line machinery cleaned, and results in loss of the package, including the fragrance, which is often particularly costly.
Another method for securing a dispenser onto a flanged container utilizes a hard plastic collar having an annular recess which receives the flange. An annular retaining rib snap-locks under the flange when installed. Such designs, however, typically require the use of hard plastics, which are not effective for providing a liquid seal and therefore require a gasket. As such, leakage problems often result. Moreover, as is the case with crimping, variances in flange dimensions can easily cause failure. If the flange is too small, the retaining rib snap locks may not pull the collar into sealing engagement with the container, which can result in leakage. If the flange is too large, the retaining rib snap-locks may not fit properly underneath the flange, which too can result in leakage and retention failure of the dispenser.
The disadvantages of the above discussed methods and assemblies are substantially obviated by the assembly and method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,553 to Van Brocklin, which is incorporated herein by reference. The assembly disclosed therein comprises a mounting cup having a generally cylindrical skirt around its periphery and a sealing collar. The sealing collar includes a sleeve having a diameter sized to receive the sidewall of the flange, and sized to be encased by the mounting cup. The end portion of the sleeve, which comprises a plurality of spaced tabs, is in the path of movement of the mounting cup and is deformed radially inwardly beneath the flange ledge thereby to secure the collar to the flange.
The present invention is an improvement upon the method and assembly described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,553 as well as any other sealing method and assembly employing a plastic collar and a mounting cup slideable over the plastic collar, or equivalents thereof.
What is desired, therefore, is an assembly which secures and seals a dispenser, such as a pump or valve, to a flanged container, which is less expensive than known assemblies to manufacture, which requires a reduced force to attach the assembly to the container, which provides an increased retention force of the components, which is aesthetically pleasing, and which can employ a standard collar used with known crimped assemblies.